Some people need surgery to correct maxilla to mandible relationship for better occlusion. Surgery may be required because the bite relationship is so severe that it is beyond the ability of conventional orthodontia. During such treatment, the bones are repositioned and splints are used in order to bring about temporary intramandibular, intramaxillary or intermaxillary fixations in jaw surgery. During surgery, one or both jaws are cut free from neighboring bone and tissue. The surgeon brings the dental arches into the desired occlusion and fixes the jaw(s) in the new relative position(s). Steps are then taken to secure the jaw(s) to the bone and tissue again. To help maintain the intended occlusion as healing occurs, the jaws are connected to each other using a splint.
As discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,184,955 to Baer, et al., a dislocated and repositioned tooth is connected to its neighboring teeth by means of a metal wire which, after an etching pretreatment, is fixed to the front surface of the teeth by means of composite material. For the long-term after-treatment of gnathoorthopedic cases, it is known to stick rigid, metal holding elements, so-called brackets, onto the tooth surface. All these holding elements are connected to one another by means of a metal wire which is loosely guided through them. By means of tensioning and, if necessary, periodically retensioning of the wire, adjustive tensioning forces are transmitted via the holding elements, which in this case have the function of transmitting forces, to the teeth to be treated. This method also can only be applied by the dentist who is familiar with it; moreover, the rigidity of the holding elements renders their exact positioning more difficult.
Additionally, as noted in Baer, et al., it has also already been attempted to produce a dental splint with synthetic material only, is to say without a wire-shaped connecting link. This method could not be implemented, however as it is difficult to shape the synthetic material exactly and, on the other hand, it often does not withstand the forces which arise in the area of the teeth, and the removal of the synthetic material has also proved difficult. As the composite material must be removed again after a certain time, it is important that from the outset an amount which is as small as possible be used if this material is applied, in other words that the adhesion surface is delimited as exactly as possible, whereas on the other hand, however, the wire-shaped connecting link is nevertheless to be securely surrounded by composite at the respective fastening point and the formation of hollow points, in particular between wire and teeth surface, must be avoided.
Additionally, the patient's bite relationship has to be correct. Presently, the surgeon sets the bite of the patient manually using plaster study models and then creating a template of the occlusion which he later will use as a guide during surgery. In surgery, the surgeon resets the jaw bone and then establishes the approximate bite relationship using the guide that he had fabricated early manually using study models. This present method of fabricating the guide template and manually setting the bite using study models is time consuming, inaccurate and cumbersome.